Book 4 Chapter 12.7 - Reward
"What do we do now?"
O'Brien stood up. He gave Alan's body that was full of injuries a look and then said, "Let's rest for a while until you've recovered, and then let's head north. That woman Eileen isn't going to be as easy to deal with as these two."
Alan didn't seem to mind his injuries much at all. He had a rare seventh level ability, high-speed recovery. The speed of his his injuries' recovery was ten times that of a normal person's. He fiddled with a medical kit while asking, "After completing this, what else will we do? What if your older sister isn't willing to return to the family with you?"
O'Brien gave the surrounding uninhabited mountainous region a look, and then said with a smile, "Then I'll just wander about for a bit in the wilderness. Don't you feel that this boundless place is quite suitable as our home field? Haha, a home field of several thousand kilometers, this is definitely not just a normal type of spectacular sight. However, this type of life will be quite difficult."
"Difficult?" Alan also began to laugh. "I don't think any place will be more difficult than that blasted world!"
"I wonder how the newest members of Poseidon's Trident's training are going. The more intelligent fellas among them should have found the secrets at the center of the world, right? I hope the last of the Hebilu won't act too excessively."
Alan laughed coldly and said, "If too many of our people die, then we'll give them a warning. If they violate it again, then we'll dig out the pile of Hebilu's bodies from the tree and burn them all, forever trapping their souls in that spiritual world, let them be their own gods.
O'Brien laughed. This might be the cruelest punishment. To never die, yet be forever alone.
When O'Brien and Alan left, Helen managed to calm down with great difficulty, restraining her urge to head north as well. She knew that her heading north would most likely be useless. Moreover, O'Brien could resolutely use 30% defeat as a reason, but Helen couldn't. She needed at least 70% success before even considering something. If she acted like O'Brien, then it might very well mean that Persephone, Su, and a few others would lose their final opportunity of retreat. That was why cool-headedness and rationality, at times, was signified even greater courage.
She picked up a large glass of water, drinking from it as she walked towards the laboratory. A healthy body needed enough nutrients, amble reset, as well as enough water and trace elements. Helen had never refuted the fact that she was a genius, and when she was in her teens, she already made the parliament's head biochemist Dr. Connor look bad. However, she knew that on the road to success, what one had to rely on was persistence, and persistence dependent on their stamina; this was no exception for any genius. That was why she was constantly watching her body.
Helen made her way through the central laboratory region, and then she passed through two doors with tight security before entering the top secret biochemistry region. Upon walking into this region, the ice-cold and machine like expression on her face was immediately replaced with shock. With a loud and clear sound, the glass of water dropped onto the ground.
Rows of transparent containers were arranged in this biochemistry region, these cubic meter sized containers filled with faint green nutrient fluid. The extensive biochemistry cultivating region had close to a hundred of these containers, growing within them specimen at different maturation stages. The light screens at the entrance to this region were displaying these containers' current conditions. Right now, there were at least a dozen containers whose conditions were a striking red on the light screen.
The containers' lids had input, monitoring, and other devices integrated into them, making them the most frail components. On the lids of the lids of those containers that were experiencing abnormal situations were holes of varying sizes, the small ones as small as a fist, the large ones the diameter of a bowl. Even though the lids weren't made of sturdy composite materials like the walls, it was still made of a light alloy, not something easily broken through. There was even less of a chance of it being broken through by the incomplete specimens being cultivated.
As soon as Helen's eyes pass through those broken holes, a strange water made its way out from the top of the container and rested on the lid. It had a long and smooth body, its black skin covered in the culture fluid. Four limbs extended from each side of its body, their ends sharp like blades and flickering with metallic luster. A long tail grew from the end of its body, and eight sharp metal stingers extended outwards from it. Even though its body wasn't large, its trunk only around twenty centimeters in size, its power was clearly not proportional to its size. With a light stab of its eight claws, the light alloy of the cover was penetrated. It laid there steadily, its long tail still soaked within the nutrient fluid.
It didn't have eyes, yet it had a large mouth that made others shudder. Within its mouth was a piece of flesh from who knows what creature. This should have be a sample that was originally growing within a container, but it now only had a small half of its body left.
The strange creature's mouth suddenly became abnormally large, directly devouring the remaining piece of flesh. Then, it released a short and sharp cry, its body curling up into a ball. Soon after, it abruptly sprung outwards, shooting towards Helen at lightning speed!
Helen didn't have time to react at all. It had already crossed the several meters of space, and with a ba sound, it sprung onto her stomach. Its body then unfolded, brandishing its eight sharp claws. Like a streak of black lightning, it immediately reached Helen's throat. It mouth became so large it was a bit inconceivable, biting fiercely towards her throat!
Its movements were extremely fast. Helen didn't have any time to react! Her line of sight was still resting on the container it was originally resting on!